One Chance
by prepare4trouble
Summary: Edgar has finally tracked down the vampire Alan.


A/N - It's been a while since I wrote Lost Boys fic. Or any fic at all. This one popped into my head last night. It probably fits in somewhere after Mirror Mirror and Ghost Trains, so Alan is a full vampire, but there is no need to read them first, it's not like a series, just a collection of semi related stories.

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One Chance

"It's been a long time."

Edgar froze, stake in hand, instinctively holding his breath at the unexpected sound, as though he had not yet been spotted and keeping quiet would keep him safe. He had thought... no, he had hoped that this house was empty. If he had really believed it, there would have been no point entering.

If a building could speak, this one would have screamed at him to stay away. The windows, all broken, were snarling mouths filled with shards of sharp glass teeth set in gums of rotten wood. He had had to hack his way through the overgrown foliage outside, snagging his clothing on more sharp bushes than he cared to remember. His left leg still smarted where the spikes of some long abandoned bramble had penetrated the thick cloth of his pants and torn the skin of his leg beneath.

He remained quiet, waiting for the vampire to make the next move. Ready to strike, but waiting for the enemy to give away his position. He didn't have to wait long.

From the shadows to his left, a figure emerged, tall, dressed almost entirely in black. It looked younger than him. That was a deception. One of many lies that a vampire told without even trying.

Its expression spread into a smile. Flat, human teeth belied the fangs hidden beneath. "Not even going to say hello?" it asked, taking a step closer, into the moonlight entering the room through the broken window. The smile widened into a grin. "Bro." it added.

Edgar fought down a wave of revulsion not caused by the vampire stench that had begun to settle upon the house. He was used to that. What he wasn't used to, and he hoped never would be, was seeing a monster wearing his brother's face. His hand tightened on his weapon.

"Not the reunion I was hoping for," the vampire said, glancing at the stake.

Edgar swallowed. "Yeah, tell me about it," he muttered.

The vampire waved a dismissive hand. "I doubt you'd be interested," he said. "But lets just say it didn't involve weapons."

Edgar fought the urge to roll his eyes. His brother had never gotten sarcasm, or at least had pretended never to get it to irritate those around him. He had to remind himself that this was not Alan.

"So," said the vampire, "what can I do for you?"

Edgar glanced around the room, eyes drifting over broken glass and the accumulated dirt and filth of a decade left derelict, looking for any signs of further vampire habitation. "Well, I doubt you'd agree to stand still for me while I stake you," he said.

The thing that looked like Alan shook its head. "We'll get to that part," it promised. "How about we talk a little first? I've missed you, Edgar. You wouldn't believe how much."

Edgar glanced around the room once again, making sure his exits were still clear. By coming here alone, he had broken one of the cardinal rules of hunting; the first rule that he and Alan had concocted together, back before they had even seen a vampire, let alone killed one. But with Alan gone, and now Sam, there was no one else. From now on, he would be alone, and the rule book would have to be rewritten.

He took a step backwards, toward the door, hoping he was at least being subtle about it. "Not interested in talking. I came here with a job to do."

The vampire nodded. "Talking never was your strength. Mine either, really. It's a miracle we managed to hang on the Sam as a friend, considering."

"Don't talk about Sam," Edgar warned. He felt his eyes narrow and his stake hand raise higher, threatening the monster at the same time as daring it to continue.

"He was my friend too," the vampire said.

Edgar shook his head, taking another step backwards. "You're not Alan," he said. "You're the thing that killed him. The thing that killed Sam too. You don't get to talk about them, you don't get to pretend that you are anything other than the monster that you are."

The vampire's eyes widened. "So many words," it said. "All at the same time. I think I've hit a nerve."

Edgar shook his head again. He stepped forward this time, into the room, ready to strike.

"I didn't kill Sam," the vampire said. "You know that as well as I do. You know it as well as you know that I am Alan. Yes, I'm different now, but I'm the same person, I have his memories, his personality. His body. Who else would I be if not him? And Sam was the same." He broke off, eyes distant for a moment. "You should have seen how he reacted when he couldn't see his reflection any more. Can you imagine? Sam Emerson denied the ability to look in a mirror?" He laughed. It was Alan's laugh.

Edgar stared, a sick feeling beginning to brew in his stomach.

"It was you that killed him, brother, not me. I offered him eternal life. You took it away."

Edgar said nothing. He stepped closer again, his grip on the stake tightened.

The Alan thing smiled again. "Yeah, I suppose you're right, it's time you did this."

He spread his arms, exposing his chest. Edgar hesitated. Alan closed his eyes, waiting.

Edgar drew back the stake, ready to strike. He glanced once more around the room, expecting hordes of the undead to flood inside and prevent him from making the killing blow, but nothing happened. Before him, Alan stood, looking all too human, waiting for the end.

Edgar lowered the stake. He couldn't do it.

The vampire opened one eye, curious. The second followed. "Problem?" he asked.

Edgar said nothing.

"What happened to destroy all vampires?" the vampire said. It smiled in an almost friendly way, sympathetic. "Maybe this will help," it said.

In the blink of an eye, its face changed from the one Edgar knew so well, into that of a monster. It's red eyes flashed with bloodlust and fangs dripped with saliva. Hunger emanated from it. Danger. This thing was a predator, ready to pounce; ready to feed.

"Try it now," it said encouragingly.

It closed it's horrible eyes once again and waited for the killing blow.

Edgar didn't raise the stake this time. He held it steadfastly by his side, grip tight and ready but refusing to show any signs of falling for this... whatever it was.

"It's a trick," he said.

The vampire opened its eyes again, they turned back to their former brown as his did, fangs receding. "What is?" The thing that looked like Alan frowned.

"What? So you expect me to believe that you'd just let me stake you?" He loosened then tightened his grip on the stake almost compulsively, like fingers drumming on a table, grip flexing in time with the racing pace of his heartbeat. "I don't think so. Alan had a better self preservation instinct than that."

"But you keep pointing out that I'm not Alan. Anyway, didn't we swear we'd kill each other if we ever turned? How do you know I'm not letting you make good on your promise?"

Edgar scowled. "You turned your back on that promise when you fled town. Damnit, Alan, you didn't even come to me when you were a halfie, try to fix it. You just disappeared." Even as he said the words, he wondered whether he would have tried to help. He had been a different person then; the world had been a different place, more black and white. It hadn't been until Sam had turned that he had ever truly entertained the idea that a half vampire could be saved.

He saw a similar through drift across Alan's...not Alan's face. He had known that to return to his brother in that state would have meant death. Edgar wondered whether he might have made a similar decision in the same circumstances.

"At least tell me that when you ran, it was to try to find a cure. Tell me you wanted to come back."

The vampire frowned. "Edgar, you need to make a decision and stick to it. Am I Alan or not?" he said.

"You're not, but whatever you are, you don't want to die. I know that much." Edgar raised his stake yet again, "So, that makes me wonder, what do you want?"

"Maybe it was just to prove a point."

"Which is?"

"That you can't kill me. All this time and effort you've put into tracking me down – and I know how much, I've seen it – but when it comes down to it, you can't kill your own brother."

Edgar shook his head. "You're not..."

"Yeah, yeah. Not Alan. Monster wearing his skin. I remember all this, I used to believe it too. But guess what, Edgar?" his eyes grew wide with wonderment and for a moment, Edgar could almost believe that he was talking to his brother. "We were wrong. You wouldn't believe what it's really like. The things I can do, the things I know... We were so wrong Edgar."

"And all it took to learn all this was a few dozen innocent lives."

The vampire laughed and as quickly as it had come, the echo of Alan was gone. "More than that. But don't assume they were all innocent. I mean, sure, some of them probably were, but in a town like this there's not a lot of innocence to go around."

"And that little bit less because you're here."

"That's not nice Edgar. Anyway, if you're not going to take me up on my offer," his eyes drifted to the stake in his brother's hand, "then I'll be on my way. I'll see you around. But don't worry, you'll come around to my way of thinking sooner or later. After all, Sam did."

Before Edgar could reply, he felt a gust of icy wind on his skin, and Alan was gone.

He checked around him, no longer expecting to see the other vampires. This meeting had been a set up, planned by Alan and probably attended only by him. His former brother had had no intentions of killing him, nor, presumably, of allowing himself to be killed, despite the display he put on. This had been Edgar's one chance, whether he would have succeeded or not didn't matter. He hadn't even tried.

The icy wind was gone, leaving behind it the humid warmth of the summer's night, and the stench of the old, abandoned house. Alan's threat hung heavy in the fetid air. Despite the heat, Edgar shivered. He re-holstered his stake and walked wearily to the door.


End file.
